This & That

Thank you for all your magazine suggestions! I actually looked for some of those tonight as I was at the bookstore for my foreign authors book group meet up. I found ReadyMade and Somerset Studios – to get me in a crafty kind of mood.

Book group was fun tonight. We had a good talk about Jamie O’Reilly’s novel Kilbrack. Everyone thought the characters were outrageous, and we all said it was refreshing to read a comedy. We tend to read a lot of depressing novels — good but depressing.

I’ve been meeting with this group for more than 10 years now. Through them I discovered Haruki Murakami, J.M. Coetzee, Penelope Fitzgerald and many other now favorite authors. Our group averages around 6 to 10 people at each monthly meeting. And, during the summer we get quite bold and meet twice a month.

In book world news I found out that there was once such a thing as a Penguincubator? You’ve never heard of it? Well Penguin Books were once available through a slot machine dispenser on Charing Cross Road. How cool is that? Check out this link to find out more on the 70th anniversary of Penguin Books.